| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Catherine de Medici by Honore de Balzac: "Who rebels in this our kingdom?" said Francois, crossing his
dressing-gown and taking Mary Stuart on his knee.
"Oh! 'tis all very charming, I know that," she said, withdrawing her
cheek from the king; "but it is your business to reign, if you please,
my sweet sire."
"Why talk of reigning? This morning I wish--"
"Why say /wish/ when you have only to will all? That's not the speech
of a king, nor that of a lover.--But no more of love just now; let us
drop it! We have business more important to speak of."
"Oh!" cried the king, "it is long since we have had any business. Is
it amusing?"
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Snow Image by Nathaniel Hawthorne: kinsman, Major Molineux?" The stranger, instead of attempting to
force his passage, stepped back into the moonlight, unmuffled his
face, and stared full into that of Robin.
"Watch here an hour, and Major Molineux will pass by," said he.
Robin gazed with dismay and astonishment on the unprecedented
physiognomy of the speaker. The forehead with its double
prominence the broad hooked nose, the shaggy eyebrows, and fiery
eyes were those which he had noticed at the inn, but the man's
complexion had undergone a singular, or, more properly, a twofold
change. One side of the face blazed an intense red, while the
other was black as midnight, the division line being in the broad
The Snow Image |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe: anywhere to get out of that place was my desire.
My first contrivance was to make a pretence to speak to this Moor,
to get something for our subsistence on board; for I told him we
must not presume to eat of our patron's bread. He said that was
true; so he brought a large basket of rusk or biscuit, and three
jars of fresh water, into the boat. I knew where my patron's case
of bottles stood, which it was evident, by the make, were taken out
of some English prize, and I conveyed them into the boat while the
Moor was on shore, as if they had been there before for our master.
I conveyed also a great lump of beeswax into the boat, which
weighed about half a hundred-weight, with a parcel of twine or
Robinson Crusoe |
